Adidas Blasted Over New 'Shackle' Sneaker Critics are fit to be tied over footwear giant Adidas' latest sneakers, which feature what looks like shackles attached to them. The JS Roundhouse Mids, which are due to be released in August, were previewed on the Adidas Originals Facebook page in a photo posted on June 14. Although the German company insists the design has nothing to do with slavery, its own promotional material isn't likely to quell criticism. “Got a sneaker game so hot you lock your kicks to your ankles?” reads a tagline posted beneath the picture. Many users left comments...

Late payments on U.S. home equity lines of credit rose to a 5-1/2 year high in the second quarter of 2007 but delinquencies on many other types of consumer loans fell, the American Bankers Association said Wednesday. In its quarterly report on consumer borrowing, the bankers group said delinquencies in repaying home equity lines of credit rose to 0.77 percent in the April-June period. That compared to a rate of 0.60 percent in the first quarter and represented the highest rate since the fourth quarter of 2001 when the rate was 0.81 percent. However, the rate of closed-end home equity...

Handing out anti-gay fliers is apparently a risky act in Crystal Lake, Illinois. A 16-year-old girl who did so was charged with a felony hate crime and held without bail at a juvenile detention center for more than two weeks. Then the judge relented and let her go home. But the girl is being treated like a dangerous mafia chieftain: she was brought to court in leg shackles, she wears an electronic ankle device, and her phone calls and Internet use are being monitored. Her trial starts on Tuesday, June 5. One of her friends, also 16, will be tried...

San Francisco (AP) -- A federal appeals court said Tuesday it would not revisit its September decision that supported a U.S. Marshals Service policy of shackling detained defendants' legs when they make their initial federal court appearance in Los Angeles. The case, brought by more than a dozen defendants, has been ongoing since 2003. In 2005, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the automatic shackling of defendants in the Los Angeles federal courthouse. At the time, the court said it would approve of such a plan only with "adequate justification." But a three-judge panel of the circuit court...

CAMP PENDLETON, California (CNN) -- A U.S. Marine will serve no more than eight years in prison in connection with the killing of an Iraqi civilian, a Marine Corps spokesman said Saturday. Marine Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington was sentenced to 14 years' confinement but will serve no more than eight under a plea agreement, Marine spokesman Sean Gibson told CNN. Pennington pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges regarding the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, in Hamdaniya, west of Baghdad. Pennington was among a group of seven Marines and a Navy medic charged in Awad's death. He and two other Marines...

Shackled skeleton found in Ávila By h.b. Wed, 31 Jan 2007, 14:05 The famous Ávila city walls in recent snow - Photo EFE A skeleton tied up with shackles and chains and thought to date from the Middle Ages has been found in an archaeological dig in Ávila, behind the city’s Church of San Pedro. It’s the second such find in the city, although coming in a different place, and it has led experts to think that death occurred during some form of punishment. Tomorrow, Thursday the latest find will be taken to the Provincial Museum where the skeleton will...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- Seven Marines and a Navy corpsman in the brig for the alleged murder of an Iraqi civilian will no longer be forced to wear shackles when visiting with relatives, meeting with attorneys or using the exercise yard, base officials announced Friday. Attorneys and family members of the troops had complained that there was no reason for the men to be shackled when leaving their cells, and one lawyer even called the practice "cruel and unusual punishment." The unshackling came on the same day lawyers for two of the men said Pentagon investigators threatened the death penalty and...

Why Is The American Military Holding Our Young Men In Shackles On A Mere Accusation From The Enemy?Our military has a policy of putting our boys in harms way, to protect our enemies?We are at war! Yet our president is taking the word of the enemy over our young men.The accusers are dirty ! Reuters journalist freed in IraqHere is al-Mashhadani's original report on Haditha from Reuters:Haditha is dirty the media is dirtyWhen terrorist hide behind their women's burkes they all might get shot in the heat the battle. If anyone should be put on trial it is the military brass who...

American troops in shackles By Michelle Malkin Jun 14, 2006 Did you know there are seven young Marines and a Navy corpsman sitting in a military brig right now in leg and wrist shackles -- despite the fact that they've not been charged with any crime? The men are in solitary confinement, locked in 8'x8' cells at San Diego's Camp Pendleton, as investigators probe an April 26 incident involving the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division. They are behind bars 23 hours a day; family members can only see them through inch-thick Plexiglas. Military blabbermouths have told the press...

Did you know there are seven young Marines and a Navy corpsman sitting in a military brig right now in leg and wrist shackles – despite the fact that they've not been charged with any crime? The men are in solitary confinement, locked in 8-by-8 feet cells at San Diego's Camp Pendleton, as investigators probe an April 26 incident involving the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division. They are behind bars 23 hours a day; family members can only see them through inch-thick Plexiglas. Military blabbermouths have told the press that the service members are suspected of kidnapping and...

I am shaking with fury right now. I just listened on the radio to the father of one of the Marines and the wife of the Navy corpsman incarcerated in Camp Pendleton - UNCHARGED -after Haditha. Let me tell you what's going on with OUR Marines right at this moment: While "detainees" (not "terrorists", not "prisoners", not "criminals", mind you) at Gitmo are accorded every privilege - including playing soccer in the sun, praying whenever they want, white-glove Koran service, and halal meals...our Marines, who have NOT been charged with any crime whatsoever are in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT and wearing leg...

A New York martial arts expert who is charged with conspiring to help train al Qaeda members is the victim of a "desperate prosecution on the government's behalf," his lawyer said on Tuesday. Tarik Ibn Osman Shah was arrested on Friday in New York after a two-year sting operation in which prosecutors said he had been taped pledging support to Osama bin Laden. He is charged with one count of conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda, a designated foreign terrorist organization. Shah, who is also a professional jazz musician, was presented briefly in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court, brushing aside warnings by two justices that it was jeopardizing courthouse safety, ruled Monday it is unconstitutional to force capital murder defendants to appear before juries in chains and shackles. Justices threw out the sentence of Carman Deck, who was shackled in leg irons and handcuffed to a chain around his belly when he faced a Missouri jury that put him on death row. Carman Deck as he appeared at his double murder trial in Jefferson County in 1996.

Some of you are probably really tired of seeing Susan Estrich's big mouth and her arms flailing away on the television screen. To this day, I am still amazed that someone like Estrich gave Clinton unwaivering support. She is, after all, herself a rape victim. At a FReep in Century City, during Impeachment time, a group of us was letting people know who were entering a Clinton speaking event that a rapist was loose in the building. I got into an argument with a Clinton supporter who actually claimed to be a Libertarian. I asked her if her opinion of...

MIDI - BOBBY'S GIRL An orange jumpsuit would be nice…an orange jumpsuit would be nice He is Sinkmaster's guy…troubles intensify At Citigroup he had it all planned RATS hope we will forget…he helped hide Enron's debt Hey, Robert Rubin, raise your right hand It's time we see Bobby grilled…it's time we see Bobby grilled That's a good idea, don't you think? 'Cause when we see Bobby grilled…when we see Bobby grilled He will overwhelm us with the stink He thought it was unseen…he tried to intervene Is he believing he wouldn't pay? May just desserts be served…they really are...